Roberto Luongo announces retirement from National Hockey League

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We’ll miss you Lou.

After 19 seasons in the NHL, former Vancouver Canucks netminder Roberto Luongo has announced his retirement from the NHL.

The 40-year-old announced his decision to retire in a letter to fans on Wednesday, which included a heartfelt nod to his time in Vancouver.

The list of great players I was lucky to share the ice with and great guys I was lucky to spend time in the locker room with goes on and on, whether it was in Florida, Vancouver or with Team Canada. In Vancouver, I played with the Sedin twins and Alex Burrows, who became one of my best friends. In Florida – it makes me feel old to say it – but I played with Pavel Bure in my first stint, and my second time around I got to play with one of the best players in the league in Sasha Barkov.

The Panthers teams I’ve spent the past few years with, there’s so many great guys in the room – I don’t want to name anybody, because I don’t want to forget anybody – but there’s so many great people on this team. And that’s hard too, because I’m going to miss being around my teammates and going to battle with them every night.

And obviously there’s the fans, everybody who has supported me over the years. I want to thank all of you from the bottom of my heart. My life in this sport has been a great experience, and I’m glad I got to share some of my best hockey memories – from the Stanley Cup Final run, to the Olympic gold medal – with the fans in Vancouver.

I want to take a moment to thank the people of Vancouver. I’ll never forget the impact that city and their fans made not only on my career, but on my life as well. They will always hold a special place in my heart.

His time in the NHL includes eight seasons with the Vancouver Canucks, as well as two Olympic gold medals (2010 and 2014) and Vancouver’s iconic Stanley Cup run in 2011.

He ends his playing career ranked second in NHL history for games played by a goaltender (1,044), third in wins (489), and ninth in shutouts (77).

Luongo is also one of the only three goaltenders in league history to have played 1,000 games.

According to TSN’s Bob McKenzie, the Vancouver Canucks will also be hit with a cap recapture penalty of approximately $3 million per season for the next three seasons.

On to the business: VAN will get hit with a cap recapture penalty of slightly more than $3M in each of the next three seasons. FLA cap recapture penalty will be slightly more than $1M in each of next three seasons.

— Bob McKenzie (@TSNBobMcKenzie) June 26, 2019

You can read Luongo’s entire letter here.

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